'We were scared': Passengers recount escape from fire on World Legacy cruise ship

SINGAPORE: Madam May Lau was jolted awake by loud, urgent knocking on her cabin door in the early hours of Friday (Feb 20) – and she knew immediately something was wrong.

"They were knocking so loudly, I thought there was no way this was a drill," she said in Mandarin.

"They told us to get up as soon as we could. I could smell the smoke in the air and I knew there was a problem. We didn't even have time to take our things."

A fire had broken out on deck nine of the World Legacy, a Liberia-registered cruise ship, as it was en route to Singapore. 

The blaze was extinguished by Singapore Civil Defence Force marine firefighters. One Indonesian crew member died as a result of the incident, the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said.

All 271 passengers have since been evacuated. Passengers who required medical attention were seen by paramedics on site, and four passengers were taken to hospital for further checks. No other injuries among the remaining crew members were reported.

Of the 388 crew members aboard, none were Singaporeans. Among the 271 passengers, 139 were Singaporeans.

SMELL OF SMOKE

Footage obtained by CNA shows passengers huddled in large groups on the ship, being told to stay calm as crew members asked whether they had their life jackets. Some passengers standing in an open-air section of the vessel appeared to be soaking wet.

Another passenger, who wanted to be known only as Jonathan, said he was asleep when the smell of smoke and the sound of alarms woke him around 4am.

He was travelling with his lion dance troupe, and said his immediate concern was for the younger members of the group.

"We were scared. My coach and I had a duty to take care of the younger ones. This is the first time something like this has happened to them, so it was inevitable that they would be scared," he told CNA.

As sirens rang through the vessel, Mdm Lau and her husband were quickly ushered along with other passengers to the seventh deck, where they put on life jackets and waited for several hours.

"When I looked up from the open area, I could see the smoke from above. And I started to get scared," she said.

A passenger who wanted to be known as Mr Ng said the smell of smoke was strong. "We couldn't see the fire, only the smoke," he said. "They were really fighting the fire with a lot of water. The entire carpet was drenched."

Passengers were later moved from the seventh deck down to the third deck, said Mdm Lau, before being ferried to the HarbourFront terminal.

Based on preliminary investigations, the fire originated in a lounge area on deck nine of the vessel, MPA said. The body of the deceased crew member has been transferred ashore and investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing.

The World Legacy remains anchored at Raffles Reserved Anchorage, a designated area within the Port of Singapore located near Pulau Semakau and Pulau Senang. The anchorage is primarily used for special purposes such as vessel repairs and the storage and offloading of ships.